Cheerful
by Lil-Samuu
Summary: Duringgame oneshot piece of fluff featuring Sheena, Colette and Lloyd. Set on a random morning late in the game.


During-game one-shot set close to the end of the game featuring Sheena, Colette and Lloyd. Optimistic pointless fluff. :)

SPOILER WARNING: This fic contains spoilers about Sheena's past.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Namco own it I believe. I've just written a silly amount of fanfiction about it and am a little bit obsessed with it. :)

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Despite the fact that the previous night had been a cold one this morning, Sheena thought, was pleasantly warm. She smiled softly at Lloyd and Colette who'd snuggled up together in a good morning hug then chuckled as the little angel gave the swordsman a kiss on the cheek and he blushed lightly. 

It was getting lighter, the sun slowly illuminating their surroundings, a clearing in a small copse-like area. It was, the summoner decided, a rather beautiful place. The green of the trees and bushes was broken up by the various colours of flowers, plants, butterflies and the occasional bird hiding up on the tree branches.

Funny to think that the world had seemed so dark last night. She'd stayed awake, mulling over the past, unable to sleep, until early in the morning. She had wanted to sleep but the images that had played over and over in her mind had kept her awake. Her failure to form a pact with Volt when she was younger still haunted her and the dark reminded her of that day, of the horrific things that had happened on it.

Now though the light lifted her spirits. She laughed as Noishe pounced on Colette and Lloyd, knocking them over. If there was one good thing about her past it was the fact that, because of who she was, she'd been the one who was sent to Sylvarant and because of that she'd gotten to meet a wonderful and unique group of people. And failure wasn't always bad, the fact that she hadn't assassinated Colette was a good thing. Lloyd would have been shattered if that had happened, not to mention she wouldn't have the little angel as a friend.

The light caught Colette's hair and, for a moment, the younger girl looked angelic in a cute way. Then she moved, grabbing hold of Lloyd's hand as he stood up, and walked off with him in the direction of the stream they'd found nearby last night. The swordsman had been carrying a small bag and the summoner found herself wondering what the couple were up to.

That question wasn't answered when they returned to camp a short while later although Sheena managed to narrow it down to something involving cooking. They were doing their best to keep whatever was going on a secret however, shooing her away from the campfire whenever she got near it.

Eventually the little angel called her over to the fire and proudly presented her with a piece of freshly steam cooked fish.

"Caught fresh this morning," Lloyd grinned, nodding at it. The contents of the bag he'd had earlier had been a fishing pole and a net.

"And something to go with it," Colette smiled, offering her a bowl of rice. "Sorry there isn't any soup."

"These might be useful though," Lloyd still had a grin on his face as he passed the summoner a little bag that Sheena identified as Colette's handiwork because of the embroidery on the front. Inside it was a pair of chopsticks, the project Lloyd had been working on last night before he went to bed.

"I, wow, thanks," Sheena smiled, settling more comfortably beside the fire. Despite the memories of the bad things that had happened in Mizuho she'd also been thinking about some of the more positive things there and had gotten a little homesick during the night. An attempt at a Mizuho style breakfast was just what she'd needed to shake off those feelings.

It was, she thought, a very nice breakfast. The fish had been cooked perfectly. She chuckled as Colette blushed and fed Lloyd some of the other half of it while he held some bread by the fire, making toast for the others who would probably want a more bland tasting breakfast.

As she ate Sheena thought about what might happen today. Although some days seemed very similar to one another, especially the ones in which all they seemed to do was battle and train to become stronger, each one was always eventful. Some days were good, contained laughter and some fun. Others were much less pleasant, featuring pain, suffering, things that were painful to remember. No matter what happened though they had to keep doing their best, had to continue slogging on on their quest. They simply couldn't fail, not with the fate of two worlds depending on their efforts.

Today, she decided, was going to be good day. It had already started well and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. There were, however, butterflies lazily flying around in the air which seemed to amuse Colette. The blonde kept pointing out the ones that she thought were the prettiest and clapping happily.

Automatically saying words of thanks for the meal Sheena put her dishes to one side and grabbed a hairbrush from a side pocket in Colette's bag along with a few other items from her own backpack. She then moved to sit back beside the younger girl and waved the hairbrush at her to get her attention. Once she had it she nodded at the hairbrush then at Colette's hair and gave her a questioning look. The angel clapped her hands in delight and immediately turned so she was facing away from Sheena who began to brush her hair.

When the summoner was halfway through plaiting a braid Lloyd stopped making toast, looked over at them and smiled.

"Want a hand?" he offered as he moved to sit beside Sheena.

"Alright," she nodded and passed Lloyd a piece of ribbon. He opened his mouth to make a comment about it but she made a gesture at him to stay quiet, she wanted the ribbons to be a surprise. Knowing Colette she'd probably be delighted with them. He grinned at her then started to work on plaiting the rest of Colette's hair.

"Does that look good?" he asked once he'd finished the braid and had tied his piece of ribbon to the end of it.

"I think you've done a pretty good job there, what do you think Colette?" Sheena smiled as she passed the younger girl a small mirror. The blonde moved her head around a bit, admiring the braids, then pounced on her friends, grabbing them in a hug.

"Thanks, those ribbons are really nice," she grinned. Then she bounded over to her backpack as Raine yelled around the camp that she'd finished washing the dishes and it was time to leave.

Having her hair braided seemed to have made Colette's good mood even better. As the group left their campsite the little angel walked in a way that seemed almost like skipping. Suddenly she stopped and pointed to a tree branch while tugging on Lloyd's sleeve. The pair wished the bird perching on the branch good morning and asked how it and its wife was. Sheena shook her head, guessing that addressing that type of bird with that comment must be an Iselian tradition.

She watched as the bird took off into the sky. Traditions and superstitions might vary between the two worlds but the birds on each of them were roughly the same it seemed. The sight of a bird flying through the air was one that could be spotted on both worlds and one which was rather pleasant on a morning like this one.

She smiled as she heard Colette begin to recite a little poem about birds. With so much lightheartedness this morning the fears and painful memories from last night now seemed distant things. They would succeed on their quest, how could they not with the energy, enthusiasm, strength and close bonds that existed within the group. Sheena felt confident, optimistic and brave, a welcome change from the way she'd felt last night.

This morning was, she thought, a good one.


End file.
